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epa08444063 A handout photo made available by NASA shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft onboard sitting on the launch pad at Launch Complex 39A as preparations continue for the Demo-2 mission, at NASA?s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, 25 May 2020. NASA?s SpaceX Demo-2 mission is the first launch with astronauts of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency?s Commercial Crew Program. EPA-EFE/NASA/Bill Ingalls HANDOUT MANDATORY CREDIT: NASA/Bill Ingalls HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Weather delays SpaceX’s first astronaut launch from Florida

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 27 (Reuters) - SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, was forced by foul weather to scrub a planned launch on Wednesday of two Americans into orbit from Florida, a mission that would mark the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years.

The countdown was halted less than 17 minutes before the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was due to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, propelling Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company’s newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station. The next launch window is set for Saturday afternoon. (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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Reuters

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